Lu Ningshuang ultimately accepted the scarf.
The navy-blue scarf wrapped around her neck, locking in the warmth while faintly dispersing traces of Qin Yushu’s scent.
It was the lingering sweet cherry wine from before.
Lu Ningshuang reached up and adjusted it.
This time…
…it was real.
The vehicle started up.
Fu Junyi sat properly in her child safety seat, her gaze still lingering reluctantly on the window outside.
“You like her?” Qin Yushu asked.
The little one turned her head back and nodded.
“What do you like about her?”
Qin Yushu asked casually, but the little one felt a tense nervousness like she’d gotten into trouble and was facing her parent, her hands obediently placed flat.
“Her personality is so good, gentle and soft. She takes such good care of Xiao Yi, squats down to talk to me, and looks into Xiao Yi’s eyes when she speaks… She doesn’t treat Xiao Yi like one of those dumb three- or four-year-old kids.”
She was five years old now, and she could completely distinguish even such tiny differences.
“And moreover—”
“She’s not like the people Mommy hires to take care of Xiao Yi. Anyway, she’s good to Xiao Yi without any ulterior motives.”
Qin Yushu glanced at the little girl by her side. “She took your money.”
Fu Junyi’s mouth fell slightly open.
Qin Yushu reminded her again, “You ordered a one-day mommy yourself. Forgot?”
The little girl furrowed her brows, racking her brains for a while before blurting out a very domineering CEO line: “Then I’m still willing!”
The little girl puffed up like a pufferfish.
“Xiao Yi… Xiao Yi has lots of money.”
On this point, they were quite alike—if money could simply and quickly solve the problem…
Qin Yushu’s eyes flickered lightly.
Perhaps that faint trace of familial affection took effect, as she didn’t make things harder for the kindergarten kid anymore.
With no outsiders in the car, Qin Yushu’s posture became a bit more relaxed, yet still elegant enough to be included in a noble etiquette textbook.
Her eyelids drooped lightly.
That hand which had casually brushed Lu Ningshuang’s skin earlier, its pale fingertips parting a few strands of hair. “Her temper is indeed extremely good.”
A bundle of harmony, no matter how you bullied her, she stayed right there, obediently and cleverly waiting for the next arrival.
Fu Junyi held no grudges at all. Having received her auntie’s affirmation, her eyes lit up again.
“Right? Auntie thinks so too!”
“She’s such a good person. It’d be great if she could always stay with me, but too bad I already have two mommies. They’d be sad if I added another one…”
“Got it!”
The little girl wore a proud expression of “I’m so smart” and “Quick, praise me,” and she said it super loudly: “Just have her come be my wife!”
Only then did Qin Yushu finally glance at the little one. “She’s an Alpha.”
Fu Junyi’s mouth gaped wide: “Ah?”
Although she was still a long way from differentiation, she had some basic knowledge of Alphas and Betas, yet she was still a bit muddled about it.
In no time, she came up with a “brilliant” solution on her own.
“Alpha Xiao Yi is fine too…”
“No.” Qin Yushu interrupted.
The little one pouted. “Why not?”
Qin Yushu shot her a glance. “The age difference between you two is too big.”
“So what.” Fu Junyi patted her little chest in promise. “I can wait.”
Qin Yushu’s tone was cool. “I mean, the other person might not be willing to wait for you.”
“Why why, what’s wrong with Xiao Yi? Where am I not good? Just wait for me one, two, three…”
She counted on her fingers until both hands weren’t enough, and her expression turned a bit dejected again.
“Okay, more than ten years is indeed a bit long.”
“No problem.” Fu Junyi quickly adjusted herself. “Xiao Yi will think of another way. I’ll definitely come up with something.”
Qin Yushu didn’t speak, not interrupting her.
The vehicle drove on. Fu Junyi’s little short legs swayed along with it, her earlier bold declarations forgotten who-knows-where, and even her worries tossed to the back of her mind.
“Ah~!”
The little girl exclaimed again, twisting her head in confusion to ask her dear auntie.
“The new mommy still has half a day left. If she comes later to play with Xiao Yi, why did you give her your scarf, not Xiao Yi’s?”
“The contact info added was also auntie’s. Xiao Yi got nothing, so Xiao Yi can’t find the new mommy at all!!!”
“To prevent you from casually buying people on the street like this time.”
Qin Yushu glanced at the little one again. “Your scarf and hat are so small. Do you think she could wear them?”
Fu Junyi’s expression first panicked, then was convinced by Qin Yushu’s few words, and finally she lay flat and submitted.
“Okay then.”
“When the new mommy contacts Auntie next time, Auntie has to tell me first, okay?”
Her little short legs swayed again.
She couldn’t say why.
But intuitively, absolutely, Lu Ningshuang would connect with her auntie—definitely.
Qin Yushu fiddled with her phone, seemingly handling some business again.
She seemed to agree with Fu Junyi on one side, but when she received the message from Lu Ningshuang on the other, she had no intention of telling the little one.
Sly scheming adults, huh.
Nothing much either.
Lu Ningshuang added up the money for that cup of milk tea earlier and the car fare from last time when the other woman had sent her home, estimated a rough amount, and transferred it all to Qin Yushu.
And once again expressed her thanks.
Qin Yushu wasn’t polite either. She tapped to accept the payment, glancing only briefly at the exact amount before her pale fingertips lightly tapped the screen to type.
[Q: Got in the car?]
[Mm.] Lu Ningshuang replied quickly.
[Q: Return the scarf next time we meet alone.]
[Q: Not at the company.]
Lu Ningshuang, who was riding the subway far away, paused for a moment when she saw these two messages come in.
What did Qin Yushu mean?
Sneaky, not wanting people at the company to discover their relationship? Well, now the two of them had no relationship anyway.
But even that tiny bit from before really couldn’t be shown in public.
Lu Ningshuang brushed past the doubt in her heart and immediately switched back to honest-person mode.
[Okay]
Qin Yushu didn’t reply.
[Thank you for the scarf]
[I’ll wash it clean]
Finally, there was movement.
[Q: Do whatever.]
Lu Ningshuang’s gaze lingered, unsure how to reply, and the status bar on the chat page with Qin Yushu still showed “The other person is typing…”
—
[Q: More than that, I have a question.]
Lu Ningshuang was puzzled: [What?]
The other side sent a screenshot. The small image looked somewhat familiar to Lu Ningshuang. She tapped it open to see—it was none other than her own WeChat profile card?
She looked it over but didn’t spot anything wrong. Her phone vibrated again. She went back and saw Qin Yushu’s latest message.
[Q: What does Miss Lu’s current name mean?]
Tap open, zoom in, focus.
Lu Ningshuang:!!!
She saw that in her profile nickname field, it read: I really want to be kept by a rich lady QAQ
Help!!!!!!!!!!
